YOU CAN DO IT

I got up this morning trying to be better about managing my time. I have come to realize that if I can get my lazy butt out of bed before the kids get up, we all have a better day. I wake up and have some down time (ALONE) and I can get every one's day started on the right foot.

So I was challenged this week by a friends blog, to stop drinking soda. Well, for those of you who are close to me, you know that Coke and the coveted Mellow Yellow, are my sanity. Sometimes my retreat. If I have a bad day, I could just sit somewhere quiet and veg with a my coke. I know what you are thinking..... Can we say "Betty Ford Clinic". Anyway, I figured if Daryl could stop drinking it, then so could I. I just hope that I don't end up off the depend taking pictures of my butt and emailing them, due to my withdrawals.
I was a bit hesitant to tell anyone of my new goal, because I have failed many,many times in the past. But I was thinking about it...... Who cares if I fail. I will just wake up the next morning and try again. I am now on day 4 I have only had 1 coke since I started. My habit was up to about 3-4 a day before I quit. So I say that I am doing pretty well. I can already tell that I am feeling better than before. My nerves don't feel as tense and my breathing is easier. SO say a little prayer for me, that I can do this without killing anyone in the process. Here is some information that motivated me to stop. Caffeine Withdrawal

As you can tell, not much is going on in our lives right now. The kids and I ventured to the beach Wed. and we had a blast. This weekend Steven's parents are coming in to visit. It is always great to have them here, we have alot of laughs. Sat. night we are all going to the beach for a church event. We will be cooking out, bonfire, swimming and doing baptisms. I guess this is one of those perks to living so close to the beach. I am always a little jealous to watch people get baptized in the ocean, because I think it is so cool. After all I just had a white rob and was dunked in an oversized bathtub in front of the whole church.

Ok ta ta for now. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Day at the beach

Yesterday we took off for our first day at the Beach. We could not have asked for a better, nicer day. The wind was light and it was a perfect temp. Pey Pey freaked out when her feet touched the sand. She would cry saying "yucky". We finally got her to the point where she was fine. The water was COLD (it always is) but the kids got used to it fast. Wish you could have been there with us because we had a blast!

A day to remember

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Father's day today. I pray that you were able to spend time with you dad or able to at least talk over the phone. I also pray that you were able to take some time today and be with your Heavenly Father.
Yesterday our family was able to go to an amusement park. It was about a half hour from here and we had a blast. The big kids rode all sorts of rides and then the babies got to ride for the first time by them selves. After that we went out for Japanese to celebrate Father's Day. Over the past couple of years we have started going out the night before for Mother's Day and Father's Day. It makes our Sunday's alot easier. All in all it was a perfect day!! I haven't uploaded my pictures yet but once I do I will post them. Tomorrow we are headed to the beach. I sometimes forget what a privilege it is to live this close. I love that we can take off on Dad's off day and head out for some R&R. Good Day and Good Night.

In the dark!

So as I write this blog today I write in the dark. I am sitting in my hallway, with my lunch, my laptop, and my beloved mellow yellow and I am trying to be invisible and silent. I guess you could call me "Stealth Mommy".

Over the past weeks we have been slowly transitoning Pey and Bear to "Big Kid Beds". I have kept pac-n-plays up in their room beside mattress on the floor. If they decided to get up and run around the room then we would put them in the "Baby Beds". This seemed to be getting it done, but I found that the pac-n-plays are a lot less work. SO they are my crutch. At the end of the day when I am done and I NEED everyone to go to bed, then I can just put them in their pac-n-plays and they would go right to sleep. But the big kid beds don't work quite so easily. As soon as I shut the door, they are up running around , squealing like little pigs and tackling each other. SO..... yesterday I was exhausted at nap time. I put them in their pac-n-plays and decided to go rest. About 5 minutes after I shut the door I heard all kinds of noise. I went upstairs to find the Pey had climbed out of hers and into his bed and they were jumping up and down and having a party. After that I decided to make the leap. I put the pac-n-plays away and decided I would tough it out and get them permanently sleeping in big beds.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!! THIS IS HARD WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought they would give up after a while and just lay down. BUT NO!!! They will not stay in their beds and they just laugh at me in my frustrations. SO I have found that they ONLY trick that works is for me to sit at their doorway with the door wide open until they go to sleep.

Hopefully that explains my new title of "Stealth Mommy". All I can say is "thank the Lord for wireless internet." At least I can sit in the hallway and blog or surf. It actually has made for some great and peaceful quiet time.

Well, I guess I am finished with my blog time because Bear has stopped singing twinkle twinkle and Pey Pey has stopped counting.

Sitting here in the quiet of this time one word comes to mind Endurance! But with that word come the word Love.

1 Cor. 13:7-8a - Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.

Leading worship

For the past 6-8 weeks B and S have been helping to lead worship for our Discovery Kids at church. We have this great curriculum that we use which has music and videos that go along with it but there is a team of 4 girls that do motions to all the songs and help lead all the kids through our worship time in Discoverykids. It seems to be very easy for them and they do it without hesitation. But things were a little different last week. We took ALL that we do on a typical Sunday morning in our children's ministry area and put it out in "Big Church". So the girls got to lead motions with our adults. They were very nervous. It was really great how God used this time to open up doors for the girls to understand what "leading worship" is all about. We talked alot about who they are truly preforming for. I love the song "Audience of one" from Big Daddy Weave. I think that they put it something like this: I come on my knees, To lay down before you Bringing all that I am, Longing only to know you,Seeking your face,And not only your hand I find you embracing me,Just as I am. I know that they didn't completely understand what it means to preform for God and God alone. I know that they couldn't even see past their nervousness to begin to understand the privilege. Gosh, I would imagine that worship leaders past and worship leaders future, struggle with this concept every day. I can only pray that as our girls grow in Christ, they will one day be able to know and understand the privilege that it is to stand before people, ushering them to the foot of the cross in worship.

If you can't tell by my blog ramble, I am proud of them. I wish that I could post a video of them doing this but I don't have one. I will post however, a video of their "monkey-see-monkey-do" little brother. Little Bear is showing us every day how much he loves music. He wakes us up in the morning singing, walks around the house singing, sings in the car, on the phone, etc. etc. All the while Pey Pey just watches him saying, "Bubby, crazy".

So here is a link to him dancing. Keep in mind that the motions he is doing are right on with what he is supposed to do.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rhonda.messer/May2007/photo?authkey=-TXGvDAtUrc#5072885192608773202




Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. ---Anne Frank

Struggling

It has been a long couple of days. I hate to say it ....but.... THE KIDS ARE DRIVING ME NUTZZZ!!!! Between the whining of the 2 year olds and the fighting of the 10year olds. I just keep praying that someone will send me to time out.

Things have been very hectic at church lately. I feel like I am in a cartoon world where the little angel is on one shoulder and the devil on the other. I feel like we are constantly having to "deal" with something. It makes it very hard when we are all at home together to leave "church stuff" outside. By the time the night is over we have talked about it all and then we are too tired to talk about anything else.

Keep us in your prayers. As our church goes through this season of it's life pray that the staff will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not be weary, They will walk and not faint. And while you are praying for our church and it's staff pray for your own. Ministry families have it rough sometimes. Eating and breathing church life all the time can sometimes make you sick to your stomach. :-)

God bless you all and thanks for reading my rant.

Ok here you go..... All of those promised pictures. I tried to do before and after shots. The first pictures were taken before we moved in. These pictures don't do the colors justice, but they will do until you can all come visit.

Living room

Dining room


Kitchen

B and S Bedroom

Pey and Bears Room

Homeschool/Play room

Foyer

We have a couple of other rooms around that got to be "Hokie Maroon" They will eventually be completely decorated VT.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.